Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has unveiled a new initiative aimed at supporting nonprofits developing technology powered by generative AI.
The program, named Google.org Accelerator, Generative AI, will allocate $20 million in grants to assist 21 nonprofit organizations, including Quill.org and the World Bank. Quill.org focuses on AI-driven tools for student writing feedback, while the World Bank is developing a generative AI application to enhance accessibility to development research.
Participants in the six-week accelerator will receive financial support along with access to technical training, workshops, mentors, and guidance from an assigned “AI coach.” Furthermore, Google.org’s fellowship program will assign teams of Google employees to collaborate with three nonprofits—Tarjimly, Benefits Data Trust, and mRelief—on a full-time basis for up to six months to aid in the launch of their proposed generative AI tools.
Tarjimly aims to utilize AI for language translation to assist refugees, while Benefits Data Trust is leveraging AI to develop assistants supporting caseworkers in aiding low-income applicants to enroll in public benefits. mRelief is working on a tool to streamline the U.S. SNAP benefits application process.
List of Projects in The Google AI Accelerator
- Benefits Data Trust is using Large Language Models (LLMs) to build an AI-powered assistant that supports caseworkers and other front-line workers in helping low-income applicants access and enroll in public benefits.
- Beyond 12 is developing a generative AI-powered College Coach that will provide coaching at scale to first-generation college students and students from under-resourced communities.
- CareerVillage is developing new activities for its AI Career Coach to help underrepresented individuals navigate their career paths and achieve better employment outcomes.
- Climate Policy Radar is building an open digital database and knowledge graph for climate law and policy with a generative AI-enabled search interface to help climate leaders make evidence-based decisions.
- CodePath will launch AI tutoring and mentorship solutions to provide immediate, personalized career support to underserved communities.
- EIDU is using generative AI to provide personalized tutoring services in low- and middle income-countries through content for teachers and customized digital learning exercises for students.
- Full Fact is building a generative AI tool to analyze and summarize large volumes of health misinformation across various media, reducing fact checkers’ workload.
- IDinsight, Inc. provides prompt and accurate, generative AI-powered responses to health-related inquiries from new or expectant mothers in South Africa.
- Jacaranda Health scales digital health services to mothers who live in underserved areas using Natural Language Processing (NLP) that has been trained in African languages.
- Justicia Lab is creating an AI assistant to help immigrants understand their options for attaining legal status — providing them with actionable information throughout the process, and offering customized guidance on their path to immigration relief.
- Materiom is creating a generative AI tool for entrepreneurs to build and test compostable biomaterial recipes that help to transform the packaging and textiles industries to become regenerative.
- mRelief is creating an assistant to help with applying for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in the U.S.
- Opportunity@Work is helping employers gain greater insights into career paths that don’t rely solely on degree-based qualifications in order to boost employability for more workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes.
- Partnership to End Addiction is enhancing the reach and quality of its addiction support services for families by using AI to build training simulations and quality assurance tools.
- Quill.org is building a new tool to provide students with immediate, AI-powered feedback and coaching on writing and reading comprehension activities, enabling them to quickly build new skills while saving teachers hours of time.
- Tabiya’s generative AI tool empowers jobseekers in low- and middle-income countries with tailored and relevant advice at scale to enable better job matches, increased gender equity and higher incomes.
- Tarjimly uses AI-powered translation to empower human translators for refugees — improving accessibility, quality and scale of translation for low-resource languages globally.
- U.S. Digital Response is helping governments understand how to use generative AI effectively to improve efficiency and impact, starting with a language access tool to reduce barriers to unemployment insurance.
- World Bank is developing a generative AI tool to make development research more accessible, extracting evidence-based findings from research to help policymakers make decisions faster and direct resources more effectively.
Annie Lewin, director of global advocacy at Google.org, emphasized the potential of generative AI to enhance the productivity, creativity, and effectiveness of social impact teams. She noted that Google.org funding recipients have reported achieving their goals in a shorter time and at lower costs with AI assistance.
Despite the perceived benefits of AI innovation among nonprofits, barriers such as cost, resources, and time hinder widespread adoption. A survey by PwrdBy revealed that while the majority of nonprofits recognize the alignment of AI with their missions and its facilitation of daily tasks, challenges in tool availability, awareness, training, and funding impede adoption.
Nonetheless, the nonprofit sector is witnessing a growing interest in AI-focused initiatives. Accelerator Fast Forward reported a surge in AI company applications, and organizations like AlgorithmWatch, JoyEducation, and Earth05 are dedicated to ethical approaches to AI.
Google.org’s initiative signals a significant step towards empowering nonprofits to leverage the potential of generative AI for social impact.